"The key aim of the forum is to create a site to discuss the conflict we are now observing on our territory", deputy speaker of the DPR’s People’s Council Denis Pushilin said

Deputy speaker of the DPR’s People’s Council Denis Pushilin

MOSCOW, May 11. /TASS/. Participants of the first forum in the history of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), entitled "Donetsk: yesterday, today, tomorrow" will discuss peace settlement in and development of Donbass, deputy speaker of the DPR’s People’s Council Denis Pushilin said.

"The key aim of the forum is to create a site to discuss the conflict we are now observing on our territory. We find it very important to define the true reasons of its appearance," Pushilin said.

"It’s very important to find and speak out mechanisms, find nuances with the help of experts that will help achieve stable peace settlement. Besides, we intend to work out mechanisms that will prevent such a conflict from repeating in the future," he said as quoted by the Donetsk News Agency.

The discussion platform will involve European Parliament and EU member countries’ deputies, leaders of the DPR and the Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR) Alexander Zakharchenko and Igor Plotnitsky, ministers of the self-proclaimed republics, experts, scientists. Pushilin, who leads the DPR’s delegation at the talks of the Contact Group on Ukraine, will be the key speaker and moderator.

The international forum will focus on further development of Donbass. Zakharchenko, DPR People’s Council speaker Andrey Purgin, LPR deputy parliament speaker Vladislav Deinego, European Parliament deputy from France Jean-Luc Schaffhauser will deliver reports.

The forum will end May 12, when its participants sum up its work and adopt a final statement.

On February 12, participants of the Contact Group on settlement of the situation in Donbass signed in Belarusian capital Minsk a document earlier agreed with leaders of the Normandy Four (Russia, Germany, France and Ukraine).

The 13-point document, entitled the Package of Measures on implementation of the September 2014 Minsk agreements, in particular included cessation of fire from February 15, withdrawal of heavy armaments, as well as measures on long-term political settlement in Ukraine, including establishment of working subgroups.

The subgroups focus on four areas: economic issues and restoration of facilities; refugees, internally displaced persons and humanitarian assistance; political issues; security issues.

Clashes between Ukrainian troops and local militias during Kiev’s military operation, conducted since mid-April 2014, to regain control over the breakaway territories, which call themselves the Donetsk and Lugansk People's republics and constitute parts of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions, have left thousands dead and forced hundreds of thousands of people to flee Ukraine’s embattled east.